NEWS & VIEWS
Bleecker & Elizabeth Streets
John E. Hurley, C.S.P.

Much is happening in this year commemorating the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle Paul. He lived in a world filled with many divisions and yet he transcended them and brought the Good News to a world that had no expectation of a life without end. His zeal for spreading good news had no boundaries and raised questions among the disciples and the culture from which he had come. Paul of Tarsus is a model for us today as we try to transcend the challenges of our time in announcing good news and embracing the marginalized.

Paul models for us not only that change is possible in our own lives, but that the world can change around us. His feast day in January was the 50th anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s announcement in 1959 that there would be an ecumenical council, Vatican II. Little did we know that Paul’s own life would be a model for the magisterium and the faithful, showing that change and renewal are possible if we are open to the Holy Spirit in our lives.

It was twenty-five years ago that a priest of New York responded to the encouragement of the American bishops to promote excellence in pastoral leadership in our parishes by founding the NPLC. This March we celebrate those years of leadership in collaborating with parish and diocesan leaders in addressing the challenges of our time. One of the great legacies of Vatican II is a great fulfillment of the role of the laity in the life and ministry of the church. Pope Benedict XVI recently said, “I believe that this is one of the important and positive results of the Council: the co-responsibility of the entire parish, for the parish priest is no longer the only one to animate everything.” This animation is a great impetus to the life and work of the NPLC and all that it does. We remain committed to serving all parish leaders.

We honor this legacy with a March 26 anniversary symposium, St. Paul Speaks to Pastoral Leaders Today. Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga’s topic is, “St. Paul’s Legacy of Inculturation Challenges Us to Be Attentive to the Signs of the Times” and Father Robert Schreiter will focus on “Ambassadors for Christ’s Sake: St. Paul’s Vision of Reconciliation.” We are grateful to Fordham University’s School of Religion and Religious Education for co-sponsoring this event. We welcome two faculty members, Margaret O’Brien Steinfels and Thomas Beaudoin, in their responses, and we look forward to sharing their insights with you.

CHURCH also will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. Our award-winning magazine reaches all fifty states and twenty-nine countries. This issue brings together many who have journeyed with NPLC through the years.

We twelve disciples here at the NPLC are grateful to CHURCH readers and writers, and to the participants in our many programs. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to meet the needs of our pastoral leaders today in ways Paul the Apostle would have never imagined but about which he would say, “Well done, good and faithful servants.”

Reverend John E. Hurley, CSP
Executive Director